Nectomys Peters 1860

Nectomys Peters 1860, Abh. K. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1860: 151.

Type Species: Mus squamipes Brants 1827

Synonyms: Potamys Liais 1872 .

Species and subspecies: 5 species:

Species Nectomys apicalis Peters 1860

Species Nectomys magdalenae Thomas 1897

Species Nectomys palmipes J. A. Allen and Chapman 1893

Species Nectomys rattus Pelzeln 1883

Species Nectomys squamipes (Brants 1827)

Discussion: Oryzomyini . A broad and diverse character base indelibly and uniformly pictures the phyletic heritage of Nectomys as oryzomyine (Baker et al., 1983; Dickerman and Yates, 1995; Hershkovitz, 1944, 1960; Hooper and Musser, 1964 a; Myers et al., 1995; Patton and da Silva, 1995; Smith and Patton, 1999; Steppan, 1995; Voss and Carleton, 1993). Hershkovitz (1944) included Sigmodontomys as a subgenus; Gardner and Patton (1976) urged removal of Sigmodontomys to Oryzomys, and Musser and Carleton (1993) provisionally elevated it to genus.

Regional studies are beginning to uncover the species diversity masked by Hershkovitz’s (1944) concept of a single, pan-Amazonian species, N. squamipes (e.g., Andrades-Miranda et al., 2001 b; Gómez-LaVerde et al., 1999; Patton et al., 2000; Voss et al., 2001). Integration of these regional perspectives nevertheless warrants continued alpha-level revisionary investigation to voucher geographic ranges and to properly associate junior synonyms.